failure to function adequately

• P: if a person is experiencing social distress, they may recognise that this is undesirable and may feel distressed and seek help. the individual may be quite content with the situation and/or unaware that they are not coping.

  L: therefore, the limitation of this approach is that the judgement depends on who is making the decision
• P: another limitation is that dysfunctional behaviour can actually be adaptive and functional for the individual

  E: some mental disorders, may lead to extra attention for the individual. such attention is rewarding and quite functional rather than dysfunctional.

  L: this failure to distinguish between functional and dysfunctional behaviours means that this definition is incomplete
• P: this definition of abnormality does recognise the subjective experience of the patient

  E: it allows us to view mental disorder from the point of view of the person experiencing it. In addition, 'failure to function' is also easy to judge objectively because we can list behaviours and judge abnormality objectively

  L: this definition of abnormality therefore has a certain sensitivity and practicality